Carmelo Anthony

Carmelo Anthony had a lot of success in the London Olympics playing the four spot — he is a matchup nightmare at the power forward spot. He can knock down the three, put the ball on the floor against slower guys and back down smaller defenders in the post. Mike Krzyzewski loved using him in…

Left unclear by Dwyane Wade‘s move from Jordan Brand to Chinese brand Li-Ning is whether he had opted for innovation or simply was not offered what he believed to be a commensurate deal. But that’s not the point. The point is this: When the Miami Heat, still arguably the NBA’s most high-profile team, take the…

It’s been much discussed this summer — Amar’e Stoudemire went down to Houston to learn post moves from the master, Hakeem Olajuwon (following the pattern of a lot of big men). The idea is that it will provide him more opportunities in the Knicks offense because he’ll space out better with Carmelo Anthony. We’ll see,…

The few weeks of “Linsanity” last year, the Knicks offense was really not all that great. The Knicks were winning because they were playing good defense and getting enough points with Jeremy Lin running a pick-and-roll heavy offense with Tyson Chandler and shooters like Steve Novak around the floor. Chandler likes the Knicks point guards…

J.R. Smith‘s abilities are both limited by and boosted by his confidence in his abilities. He has every bit of faith that he can make any shot he needs to, most often without the use or help of his teammates. It can propel his team to victory or send his coaches into a deep depression.…

Rasheed Wallace is back in the NBA. Which should be a good test of the NBA’s technical policy if nothing else. He’s had a few other chances to return from retirement the past two years, a number of teams including the Celtics (where he last played) have approached him. He said no. He didn’t want…

Here is our regular look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT) — done in bullet point form. Because bloggers love bullet points. • It was news when Kobe Bryant said this was the most talented Lakers…

How about this for a road trip? The New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons are traveling to London for a regular season game Jan. 17, the league confirmed Thursday. The game will be a homecoming to the O2 Arena for the Knicks Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler, who won gold there with Team USA this…

Carmelo Anthony is at least saying the right things. The Knicks need to get Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire meshing together on offense. You know it. I know it. There are people in Thailand who know it. Mike Woodson knows it too, but to keep his job as Knicks coach he had to have ‘Melo…

DeMarcus Cousins had a bumpy time as a member of the USA Select Team this summer, playing against the London Olympians during training camp. He got called out publicly by USA basketball president Jerry Colangelo for being too physical in scrimmages against the stars. I’ll add that I was in Vegas and Colangelo wasn’t the…

Say what you want about Chauncey Billups, but do not question the man’s dedication. The Clippers guard immediately got word out after his devastating Achilles injury that he would not be retiring. He’s kept that word up the entire way. He’s vowed to return this season. And at media day for the Clippers Friday, Billups…

UPDATE 5:32 pm: Rasheed Wallace’s agent spoke with ESPNNewYork.com and said that other teams should not get their hopes up about Sheed — he will play for the Knicks or nobody. “That’s my understanding, based on his relationship with Coach (Mike) Woodson,” Strickland said by phone. A team source said Wallace has not yet signed…

Sometimes fans ask me why players want to go to Los Angeles or New York instead of fine cities like Houston or Milwaukee. It’s because of the opportunities. Like teaching Ellen to Dougie. It’s because if you are Tyson Chandler playing for the Knicks, you can host a charity exhibit of your own art work…

When it was reported that the Knicks were taking a hard look at Rasheed Wallace, a lot of Knicks fans rolled their eyes. Knicks haters just laughed. But Tyson Chandler — the guy Wallace would back up — wants Sheed in New York. Look at what he told the New York Post. “He looked good,’’…

Something’s gotta give in Milwaukee. (Check out our Bucks season preview here.) The Bucks traded their often-injured-but-still-awesome-when-he-played center Andrew Bogut last season to Golden State and took on Monta Ellis. Ellis was a promising young star. Then he was the guy who got injured in the moped accident. Then he was a terrific player again.…

The Nets swung big and missed a couple times. They went hard after Carmelo Anthony, but he ended up in Manhattan. They wanted Dwight Howard — there were even tampering rumors — but the Magic would not play along so he ended up on the other coast. Nets majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov is not a…

Last season: Abort the mission! New plan! New plan! The Bucks slammed on the parking brake, wrenched the wheel and Tokyo Drifted in a new direction last season, abandoning the “all defense all the time” team built around Andrew Bogut and giving p on the fleeting hope Bogut will ever, ever be healthy. They swapped…

If Darko Milicic were taken, say, 25th in the 2003 NBA Draft, you would think the Celtics made a good signing bringing him in this summer — a serviceable big man to bring in off the bench, a guy who for 12 minutes a night will not suck and give guys like Kevin Garnett some…

This is something I just kind of stumbled on this morning while reading a post from earlier this month about how Pat Riley said about how smallball is “who (the Heat) are, now.” I, and others have written a lot about how the Heat’s lineup to finish the season, with Chris Bosh playing a combination…

There were questions about Masai Ujiri as a general manager when the Nuggets hired him. He seemed a bit of a reach, someone who hadn’t had a lot of experience and that raised a few eyebrows around the league. But Ujiri has answered every question, looked smart in the role and reshaped a roster following…

The Knicks are going to be one of the more interesting stories in the NBA this season, and not just because they are in New York. As our own Matt Moore previewed, they have talent and they are going to be good, but the question remains about how well all the puzzle pieces fit together.…

Welcome to The Inbounds, touching on a big idea of the day. It could be news, it could be history, it could be a tangent, it could be love. OK, it’s probably not love. Enjoy. INTRODUCTION: I’m not a big believer in the Knicks’ offense. I tend to like things like ball movement. And efficiency.…

This week begins PBT’s team-by-team season preview, going through all 30 squads. We are starting in the deep Atlantic Division that could well send four teams to the playoffs, and we will move West from there. Next up, your New York Knicks. Last season: Good God, where to begin. Uh, they beat Boston in their first…

Two and a half weeks ago, Business Week released a study on the “smartest spenders in the NBA.” Kurt talked about the top and bottom ten here. It’s nothing shocking. The Lakers spend really well! The Wizards and Kings spend really badly! Turns out there’s a high correlation between “being a really good team” and…

There were lessons to be learned out of how LeBron James handled leaving Cleveland for the Miami Heat. A long list of what not to do. One was the pitfalls of hubris and that not everything can be spun positively. Another was that people are going to hate you for that kind of move, and…